Best grocery store tea

Ok, I was feeling slightly bolstered by everyone’s suggestions and picked up a Twinings black tea sampler (English breakfast, Irish breakfast, lady grey and earl grey) as well as the Bigelow Vanilla Chai. I was short on black teas for morning, so this should hit the spot. I wasn’t at my usual grocery store – I intend to branch out more significantly next shopping trip. :)

Most of the Twinings and Bigelow lines provide good teabag teas. Personally I’m not too concerned about saving the planet with my tea purchases. Just ordered a couple pounds from Harney & Sons online. Let you all know what I think after it arrives.

PS; Don’t be afraid to order tea online from reputable sellers. The prices are actually pretty reasonable. Also check online for tea discount codes, can save you a % on your purchase or get free shipping.

Oh, I have ventured into the world of online teas a little – I’ve ordered sample sizes from Adagio once or twice, and I will probably check out some other online sellers after delving more deeply into the reviews here. I just don’t feel like I’ve fully explored my grocery store options yet. :)

The grocery store is actually my main source for tea! (But then again, I live in Japan.) Most of the loose leaf tea is different brands of sencha, but there’s also a few other types like oolong and jasmine.

My favorite bag tea is Relax Chamomile from Nittoh, and my favorite bottled tea is Jasmine Green Tea from Ito En. I’ve seen teas from non-Japanese companies such as Lipton and Twining as well.

If you can find an Asian or international grocery store, it’s worth it to check out their tea selection!

I thought the best Numi bagged tea (other than their pu erhs) was Chinese Breakfast (not to be confused with Morning Rise, which is another breakfast blend they have). This is my favorite of the Numi’s I tried, pretty much hands down. Their Earl Grey isn’t bad, it’s a milder Earl Grey flavor than many, but there are much better Earl Greys available. And their Monkey Picked Jasmine and White Rose are ok if you like those flavors.

They used to have an English breakfast, I think? I think it might have more to do with their brand – they are known for fun flavors, so plain black probably doesn’t go over as well. I noticed when they came out with white tea that they had a plain decaf white (but white tea already has so little caffeine..?), but the regular white only came in flavored varieties. Kind of weird, I thought.

The only two grocery stores that I purchase tea from are Trader Joes and Whole Foods. I simply do not trust other grocery stores with tea… and here is why:

A few months ago I was in WalMart (don’t go there often, but hubby used to get his prescriptions there), and I happened to start browsing down the tea aisle. I found a box of Tazo Ginger Green tea and I considered buying it, until I happened to look at the expiration date on the box, and it was almost a year (11 months!) past the expiration date. And yes, it was an expiration date, packaging date.

Tea is simply too important to me to purchase at a place that chooses not to respect it.